This invention relates to a safety needle with a collapsible sheath. More particularly, this invention relates to a safety needle that contains a sharpened edge needle that can be rendered harmless to puncture.
Needle protectors are well known and have been in use for many years with needles used with hypodermic syringes. Conventionally, needles are made with hubs and sockets adapted to be attached to the reduced end of a syringe. A molded plastic cap is conventionally removably secured to the hub of the needle. After mounting the needle on the syringe, the cap is removed to expose the needle for use.
Accidental needle stick injuries, unfortunately, are still common in health care workers, such as nurses, physicians, laboratory workers and housekeeping personnel. Needle stick exposures can result in transmission of hepatitis B, as well as acquired immune deficiency syndrome-AIDs, or other transmittable diseases. The health hazards associated with needle stick injuries are of greater risk for health care workers now than ever before.
Accidental needle sticks often occur when a blood drawer attempts to recap a needle after use or leaves a contaminated needle exposed on work surfaces where the blood drawer or other workers accidentally impale themselves.
It is well known that used hypodermic needles are extremely susceptible to transmitting diseases. Hepatitis and other highly contagious diseases can be transmitted by successive use of the same needle by different individuals. In a hospital environment, however, precautions are taken to avoid use of contaminated needles by their expeditious disposal. Problems exist, however, in storing the needle for disposal. Commonly, the protective cap associated with the needle receives the used needle for discarding. However, it is apparent that the bore of the needle cap is dimensioned not much greater than the diameter of the needle and its needle base that removably attaches to a syringe. Misalignment of the needle with respect to the cap when trying to reinsert the needle therein can cause the hand that holds the cap to be punctured, thereby increasing the likelihood to transmission of a contagious disease.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,847,995 and 3,134,380 describe shields that are used with hypodermic needles in which the shield or protector is adapted to be accordioned for use and then expanded to cover the tip of the needle. This type of needle tip protector is contemplated to be mounted on the syringe or at least the needle hub and remain in a mounted condition during use. With the rapid increase in AIDS-infected and human carriers, there has been a concentration of providing needle protection. U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,744 describes a specially constructed hub and a self-sheathing assembly. Devices similar to this are known to the art and are utilized to provide a protecting extending flange secured to or as a portion of a tubular cap that is to be reinstalled to cover the needle. Shielded protectors which anticipate flange extensions are numerous and have been promoted and or offered as a protector of the attendant.
Also known are needle tip protectors that anticipate attendant manipulation. Representative of these manipulated devices are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,876,770; 2,925,083 and 3,306,290. U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,267 refers to a corrugated structure having an end cap for enclosing a sharpened needle.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a needle assembly with a protective sheath.
It is another object of the invention to reduce the risk of an inadvertent “stick” from used needle.
It is another object of the invention to maintain a used needle in a sealed condition for disposal.
It is another object of this invention to provide a collapsible sheath that corrugates upon collapsing and extends to a tube construction to protect a used needle.
It is another object of this invention to provide a unique positive lock to prevent a sharpened end of a needle from exiting a protective sheath.
It is another object of this invention to provide a positive locking feature for a cap to be disposed over the sharpened end of a needle prior to actuation.